Animal experimentation is one of the issues that has galvanized the
animal rights movement from its inception. From the Silver Spring
Monkeys to Huntingdon life Sciences, the life, suffering and death of
rats, mice, rabbits, monkeys, dogs, cats, and guinea pigs commonly
imprisoned in our nation’s labs shock and dismay us to our very core.

Our experience of animals shows us that they feel pain, isolation,
and stress much as we do. And just as our sensitivities are repulsed by
this, so our anger draws us to take action on this issue. We want to do
something to end animal experimentation, but at the same time many of us
barely have the strength to look at the pictures exposing this violence.

Unfortunately, we cannot fight what we do not truly understand. We
cannot oppose this practice if we do not look at it. The suffering of
these innocent beings must be our motivation. Their anguish must become
our driving force. We can not, we MUST not turn away to spare our own
feelings.

When trying to convey the realities of animal experimentation it is
difficult to decide where to start. None of the images are pleasant, but
some of them are more common.

Tens of thousands of dogs are used in research facilities every year.
Beagles are common subjects of experimentation. During 2005 a beagle
died at the Ridgefield, Connecticut laboratory of the Boehringer
Ingelheim Pharmaceutical Company. Apparently the cage in which this
beagle was incarcerated was not constructed properly and the animal
became trapped between the bars and suffocated. No one at this
laboratory took action as this animal was dying

At this same facility, one more dog suffered terribly during 2005. On
May 4 a USDA inspector found this dog to be “...recumbent and shivering.
According to personnel, the animals run a fever at this stage of the
study... According to the dog’s medical records, the dog’s weight was
12.9 kg when the study began on 4/5/05 and the dog weighed 9.4 kg on
5/9/05 which is a 27% weight loss in 35 days. The dog experienced
elevated body temperatures ranging from 103 to 106 degrees F for 24 to
48 hour periods of time on 4 separate occasions after beginning the
study. There were multiple notations in the dog’s record that it did not
eat during the febrile episodes.”

An unidentified dog died on July 5th, 2005 within the confines of the
laboratories owned by the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In the weeks
before this animal's death 41% of body weight was lost. This animal had
been vomiting since 3/18, with this symptom listed in the daily care log
no less than 7 separate times. This dog is reported to have looked like
a walking skeleton. Despite repeated notations of symptoms including
vomiting, weight loss, lethargy, lack of appetite and general
non-responsiveness over a period of almost four months, no veterinarian
was ever contacted. This dog simply wasted away over a four month period
until death came... mercifully.

Incidents at other research facilities are no less shocking. Two dogs
at the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama were the
victims of serious negligence during 2005. These dogs were starved for a
period of two weeks. During this time one of the dogs lost 38% of
his/her body weight, the other 24%. This would be like a 150 pound human
losing 57 pounds or 36 pounds respectively over a two week period.

At the Covance laboratory in Pennsylvania food restrictive devices
are implanted in dogs and pigs. One dog lost over 30% of body weight
over a period of slightly more than two months. No veterinary care was
given to this dog and this facility apparently did not even consider
this situation to have been one which would cause pain or distress. The
Covance laboratory in Vienna, Virginia often denies animals veterinary
care, even for broken bones.

In some instances brutality comes not from the results of experiments
but simply from the ways in which animals are housed. At Charles River
Laboratories in Wilmington, Massachusetts, 48 dogs were housed in a room
with enclosures which use something called either “hog flooring” or
“tenderfoot flooring.” This material consists of “expanded wire covered
with rubber or hard plastic.” This material is very painful for the dogs
to walk or even stand on and causes injuries. The USDA inspection report
for this facility states: “...many of the animals in room 505 had
interdigital lesions consisting of redness, swelling, and fluid
drainage. Eight out of ten observed had varying degrees of these lesions
— one dog had only a slight swelling on one front limb, while #40006453
had all four paws affected with a mucopurulent material draining from a
enlarged lesion on the left rear paw.”

If we are to truly comprehend these images we must personalize them.
Replace the references to specific animals above with the name of any
dog with whom you have a personal connection, and then re-read the
information. The feelings that come over you will bring you to a new
understanding of the barbarity of these situations.

While our connection with companion animals like dogs can help us to
empathize with the suffering they endure in research facilities, our
psychological similarity to primates should allow us to empathize with
their imprisoned anguish. Over 120,000 rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys,
chimpanzees, and others of our closest relatives are imprisoned by/for
our nation’s laboratories.

Some of the most recent information about the life of primates in
laboratories is truly shocking. Facilities across the United States are
subjecting primates to abuses which simply boggle the mind.

During December of 2004 a monkey named Clark was imprisoned at
Montana State University. Clark was deprived of adequate access to water
a number of times. This situation is not unique. During June of 2005 a
primate known only as #607923 lost over 11% body weight while being
deprived of water during experimentation at the University of Chicago.
This is analogous to a 150 pound human losing 16.5 pounds. Many other
laboratories routinely deprive primates of water as a part of one
experiment or another. These laboratories include University of
California laboratories at Davis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles;
Northwestern, the California Institute of Technology, the Salk
Institute, Emory, Harvard, Yale, the University of Wisconsin, MIT,
Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Connecticut, Stanford,
the University of Washington and others. A primate recently died at
Vanderbilt after the water supply was shut off during renovations.

These facilities and others are known to have committed many other
infractions. Boehringer Ingelheim — a pharmaceutical company — had
multiple incidents resulting in the torture of primates. Cynomolgous
monkey #497 was used in an experiment on September 2, 2004. Two days
later all of the skin had sloughed off of both of this primate’s hands
due to a thermal injury. As a result, two fingers were amputated several
days later. Another incident at this facility caused the death of
another primate in 2004. Rhesus monkey #831 died after being left in the
cage when the cage washer was turned on. A similar incident had killed
another primate at this facility in 2001.

At the Harvard Medical School on July 12, 2004 a primate strangulated
on a piece of plastic tubing when left unattended, confined to a
restraint chair. At least two research projects at Harvard use
water/fluids as a reward for the performance of certain behaviors by
primates. During these experiments primates receive liquids only during
the time the experiment is underway. If this experiment takes 4 hours
per day, then the primates are deprived of water for 20 hours per day.

In June of 2005 animal care technicians at Emory University were
observed by a USDA inspector while doing routine blood draws from rhesus
monkeys who were confined in restraint chairs. These basic procedures
resulted in multiple violations of federal regulations because “The
forearms/hands and lower legs/feet of each animal were secured to the
frame of the chair with duct tape.”

Most people who have any shred of concern for animals would be aghast
after reading the preceding 1400 words which paint such horrific
pictures. Shock, anger, even disgust may well be flooding your mind
right now. This is the time for you to act. This very minute could be
the starting point of your involvement in this issue.

No one should feel powerless when confronted with this kind of
information. Knowledge is the first step to action.

Three courses of action exist which should allow you to become
involved and effective in making real changes for the animals who are
victimized. You must speak out because all of these animals have only
our voices.

1. Write to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Office of the Inspector
General within the USDA, and the Associate Commissioner for Regulatory
Affairs of the Food & Drug Administration. These officials all have the
ability to make a real difference. Sample letters to these officials can
be found online at:

2. Write to your federal Senators and Congresspersons asking them to
contact these same officials. Remember, right now we are only asking for
existing laws to be enforced. This is something that should be easy for
these officials to act on.

These current circumstances will continue as long as people like you
and I do nothing. Every activist that gets involved helps to expose the
horrific treatment of animals in laboratories and plays a part in
bringing about the end of animal experimentation. Take that first
step... and then another, and another. Contact SAEN for assistance,
saen@saenonline.org.
Thank you for anything and everything you to do help animals in
laboratories.